Doppelganger
by Azuri-Chann
Summary: Noel encounters her shadowed-persona and is plunged into a seemingly never ending chain of nightmares...


A/N: This is an experimental one-shot so either it will be a painfully bad attempt or a fairly decent try. Here's hoping it's the latter...because I really worked on it. =v=

The Cover Art was done by Vhaanzeit on DeviantArt!

In this story, a doppelganger can be seen as a person's suppressed identity embodied in a darker form. It's said that they appear to remind the original of their existence, since they despise being forgotten and unknown to the rest of the world. And one of their strongest desires is to live in the original's place. Freaky stuff, hey?

This is a what-if scenario if Noel ever came to meet her doppelganger.

Warning: For sensitive readers, don't read any further if you can't stand disturbing scenes in general.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of the game series BlazBlue. They belong to Arcs System Works. Ha.

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**Doppelganger**

* * *

_~Emptiness. It is believed to stretch an eternity, an eternity of infinite nothingness. Cold. Blank. Devoid of colour. Devoid of warmth. Devoid of life. Empty.~_

* * *

The initial brightness smote Noel's eyes so violently that she staggered the moment she opened them.

"Where...is this?" she finally managed to ask, lifting her head to look skyward. The current trail of her memory started with an incentive to open her eyes only to find herself standing in this setting, unaware for how long she had been there. Her bare legs were cold in the low temperature, but were planted on the nonexistent ground, immovable, as she looked around cautiously.

She felt apprehensive having opened her eyes to this...void. "Is...Is anyone there?" she called, then pursed her lips, bracing herself for an answer from...anyone. Her question echoed, vibrated, and then rebounded off the nonexistent walls of the colourless space before lapsing into an unwanted silence.

She didn't know why she was there, or where it was in the first place. Frantic, Noel turned to look behind her, hair swaying with momentum as she looked in all directions hoping to find a familiar indicator to give her an idea of where this was.

The emptiness stretched longer, as far as her vision could allow her to see. She would've thought this place was a void of white, but even white was _something_. Her surroundings consisted of blank static particles flickering grey.

Fear settled in the moment that her mind finally registered she was alone. Noel whirled around, eyes darting from one side to another, trying to find a way out, trying to find anyone.

"Hello? Is-is anyone here?" There was no one. With fear steadily creeping up on her, she struggled to race forward, the reason for her attempt unclear to even herself. But her haste proved difficult with each step she managed to take. It was as if gravity urged her to be still.

She lurched over her feet, slamming onto the cool simulation of ground. Hoisting her body up by her arms, she looked around dizzily. "Wh...Where is this place?" Her voice left as a whimper this time.

Her searching eyes met no corners, no doors, and no openings. The emptiness filled the space completely.

She was all alone. She felt afraid. Not because she was in a strange, unfamiliar place with seemingly no way out. Not because she couldn't bring herself to remember how she had come to be there. But because...she was entirely alone.

She tried again, pushing herself up, running forward, and forcing her body against the intensity of the air. Grimacing, she pushed on, her shoulders heaving until her knees weakened, buckling before collapsing below her.

"Some one... anyone... help!" Frustrated tears of confusion welled up in her eyes when she was drawn to the ground again, the moment she attempted to stand.

"Pathetic," a lone, uninterested voice occupied the silence.

An eerie touch of fear slowly crept over Noel, instead of the hope and relief she would have felt otherwise.

That voice... Noel stood up at a snail's pace, her back facing the new occupant. The heavy presence behind her almost voicelessly urged Noel to look behind, even though for some reason her mind was pleading her not to. Slowly, she turned her head over her shoulder.

The dim form of girl glided midair, lowering until she came to a faint stop on the 'ground'. Her head was bowed and her eyes were shadowed by a black hood with strands of pale blonde hair hanging out. Only a part of her mouth was visible, and her lips were twisted in a bitter smile. "Hello again, Noel."

Noel stared with eyes wide that this...person...knew her name. "Wh-who are you...?" she asked anxiously.

The black cloaked girl lifted her hands and threw the hood off. She had airy strands of blonde hair, almost waving lightly as if in permanent breeze. Only there was no breeze. The space seemed almost airless now and Noel couldn't bring herself to breathe. This girl... Noel would not have known her if not for the form's striking resemblance to her.

Light blonde hair, emerald eyes, fair skin, lean. Those features were defined similar to Noel's. This girl would have been a mirror image, if she was not attired differently.

Noel wore only her white nightdress and the fluffy blue socks reaching her ankles. The mysterious lookalike wore black lace-up boots, grey shaded stockings, a black sash wrapped around her hips with a gray bodice beneath and dark half-gloves covering her hands.

"Who...who are you?" Noel asked faintly, blinking repeatedly at the figure.

A wry smirk appeared on the girl's pale lips. "Oh, but can't you see Noel?" she asked almost mockingly, slowly stepping towards Noel. "Although I prefer going by Noelle...I, am, you."

A cold chill crept up Noel's spine when the lookalike placed a cool finger on her chest. She took a step back. It was impossible that this girl could be her, Noel thought. She knew who she was, and what this double seemed to be was _not _her.

"That, that can't be..." she muttered, shaking her head softly. "This...this is a dream, it has to be."

"Seriously?" Noelle tilted her head slightly and her piercing gaze interrupted Noel's trail of thoughts which tried earnestly to convince her that this was not real. "Stop deluding yourself. It's pathetic," she spat with a look of disdain.

Noel shook her head. "This is a dream, this is a dream, this is a dream," she chanted, expression stricken as she closed her eyes. "This is a dream, this is a dream, this is a dream..."

The lookalike held a hand beneath her chin as she studied Noel with a cold gaze. "You know what?" she started ominously, as if she just remembered something. "This reminds me of the last time we met."

"This is a dream, this is a dream, this is a dream..." Noel continued this like a mantra, squinting her eyes shut. There was no way that this could be real. She didn't want to partake in any conversation; she just wanted to wake up already. It was just a dream. It had to be. "This is a dream, this is a dream, this is a dream..."

"Now this is ridiculous..." the girl in black crossed her arms, looking at Noel with a moderately exasperated expression.

Noel opened her eyes slowly. "You-you...you're," she bit her bottom lip meekly when she stuttered and then shook her head, regaining the ability to speak properly. "That was only a dream," she stated, though it came out so faint, she was not sure that the lookalike had caught it.

It appeared that she did hear it since she let out a mordant chuckle. "Yes, a dream where _I_ hurt _you _and _you_ woke up with the exact same bruise on your body," she drawled.

She seemed to find hilarity when Noel stared, dumbstruck. Like a blocked off memory, the distressing dream returned. Noel was still a little girl then, not even in her early teens.

Noel touched the area below her shoulder where vanished scratches were once agonizingly engraved like the sharp claws of a wild creature had slashed her there. There was no trace of a scar at present, but the memory was still in place. Noel's mother hadn't believed her when she came crying, saying that an evil girl tried to kill her. Instead, her mother had scolded Noel for sneaking out to play in the woods at the back.

"Tell me..." the shadowed girl continued forebodingly. "If that was a dream, then why were you hurt? Don't have an answer, huh?"

Noel swallowed hard, her throat tapered as all the possible replies disappearing. This girl- supposedly herself, supposedly the skeletal little girl from her childhood nightmare- had rendered her speechless.

Noel looked up at the bored lookalike, who was flicking her bangs out of her eyes.

"What...? What do you want?"

Noel didn't know exactly what to do or say in this situation, she still doubted it was real even though it felt so believable. She was unsure whether this person really existed, whether this entire predicament was a figment of her imagination, whether this was actually a nightmare about her past nightmare. Her denials kept growing more impossible as she tried to convince herself this was not real.

However, the menacing glint that flashed in the brooding eyes of the double seemed real enough as proof and Noel instantly felt a dreaded foreshadowing that she asked the wrong question.

"You know very well what I want," the double implied, this time her voice held no emotion and seemed threateningly darker in tone. Noel forbid herself to tremble when a crest of desire washed over the lookalike's features as she continued. "Your body, that's all..."

"M-my...body?" Noel repeated with difficulty. She couldn't stop the shudder going through her at the unsettling words. "But...what does that even mean?" she asked, bewildered. "Why would you...?"

The girl in black was clearly irritated now and she narrowed her eyes. "Why? Because it's my turn!" she sneered. "I hate being insignificant, being shoved at the back of your mind. All this time... all this time I've been doing nothing but watching. Just watching."

The double chuckled bitterly, a lamenting shimmer in her eyes. "I suppose that's what it is to be a suppressed second-half, being an alternate persona. After all, being a doppelganger means...nothing."

Doppelganger...? Noel stared, unblinking. She once read about doppelgangers, paranormal entities, and that was when she discovered she wasn't a fan of horror novels. It terrified her. But now... She could hardly believe it was possible that this was an encounter with her suppressed persona.

There...there was no way! Noel breathed in shakily, all this information beginning to take a toll on her. There was no way that this person was anything related to her. She looked at the sullen girl in black. Noelle looked almost exactly like Noel, but still...there was something different. Something brooding.

"I can't even begin to tell you...how frustrating it is." The dark-clad young woman snapped her head up, stepping closer with a furious glare. "You make the wrong decisions, you let yourself get hurt, you trust people _way_ too easily, you offer to do things that are only a waste of time. It's all sickening."

She looked at Noel, who was still trying to comprehend all this, and drew her face closer with intent to whisper something. "You're sickening...and stupid," she seethed, her cool breath causing the quivering Noel to flinch.

A crestfallen look appeared on the girl in white and she dropped her gaze. "I'm...I'm not...stupid," she murmured, swallowing a lump which seemed to form in her throat.

This only caused a deceitful smirk to tug on the double's lips. "You're a hypocrite too," she started. Noel slowly began to shake her head, wishing that she'd stop already. She knew where this was heading...and she dreaded to hear anymore.

"You smile but you actually feel otherwise, you think that you're a respectable person but you fawn over the stupidest things, you think you're not a brat yet you're continuously looking for attention. It's revolting, really. And you waste your days with those nobodies you believe actually like you, who you believe are _actually_ your friends. Hah.."

"That's not true!" Noel cried out, leaning forward with a shake of her head. "Tsubaki and Makoto are my friends, they...they're nice to me and they've been with me through a lot. Even through the tough times I had."

"Yes, but that's because they felt sorry for you." Noelle crossed her arms smugly, showing an insincere look of pity at Noel. "You're so sad; they can't even bring themselves to be rid of you because they pity you so much. Why do you think they supported you to make your own decision to leave the Academy, instead of begging you to stay?"

Noel faltered. This conjecture struck a sensitive spot, and she felt an odd pange in her chest. Whether she liked it or not the double had raised...a good point.

Sensing this, the darker clad girl smirked. "Answer that," she challenged, pushing a wisp of hair behind her ear.

Noel's green eyes flickered as she thought about her friends and her life in the academy. "They, they were being considerate..." she defended, this time with uncertainty. "They said that it was up to me."

"Yes, but they didn't beg you to stay right? They were relieved that you went." jeered Noelle. She seemed to be gaining something out of this. Her posture grew more imposing as if she was gaining strength little by little when her words managed to shatter the confidence of the timid blonde.

Though Noel was too distraught to notice.

Her friends really_ didn't_ beg her to stay... She thought they were being understanding at the time, but now...

Could all that her doppelganger was saying actually be true...?

"The moment you were gone, they turned around and forgot about you, they forgot about us..." Noelle put in, as if on the same trail of thought.

Noel refrained from shrinking back, hurt. "That's...that's a lie!" she insisted, shaking her head earnestly.

"Is that your only comeback?" scoffed Noelle, eyebrows raised.

Silence pressed on tensely and neither said a word. Noel stood in place, hugging her arms as if she was cold and trying to comfort herself from all that was said and from the disarrayed thoughts troubling her mind. She was beginning to doubt.

Finally, the doppelganger spoke with a tenor of bitterness in her low voice. "If I was in control, I'd be a better you... I wouldn't be a burden."

Noel pursed her lips with an inaudible squirm. This was too much. The insults, the mockery, the negativity pounded in her mind, repeating themselves and growing louder and louder with each passing second. Her thoughts whispered insidiously, telling her that she was a failure, repeating the exact words of the doppelganger who only stared her down.

"I'm not a burden...I'm not a failure..." She couldn't take it anymore. The noise was too loud. Putting her hands over her ears, Noel hoped to block them out. She didn't want to hear anymore! She wanted it to stop! "Stop! Please...! Stop it!"

Noel dropped to the floor with her head down and her back crouched over. Warm tears trailed from her cheeks and dripped down her chin, tainting the simulation of ground. She sniffed, shutting her eyes tightly while the doppelganger only watched with a look of scorn.

"Just look how weak you are," she said patronizingly.

Noel could almost feel her piercing glare. She choked out a sob and shook her head with her face buried in her hands. _This is all lies...it's not true...she's not telling the truth..._

Regardless of her defeated position, Noelle hadn't had enough quite yet. "See there's another thing; you're such a cry baby. What a wimp." As she said that she made an effort to jab Noel's waist with the front of her boot.

"No wonder the Major can't stand you, he thinks you're weak, a hindrance. But I, I wouldn't be weak. I'm the exact opposite of you, I'm everything you're not, I'm the better you. That's why I deserve to show myself. And I'm not going to have you hold me back any longer."

"I'm...me... you're not me..." Noel murmured from below. Looking up cautiously, she clung to the small bit of hope that she could try to use reason. "You seem to have... a body of your own. What do you want with mine...?"

"Are you stupid?!" Noelle spat, apparently short-tempered. But she composed herself with a cynical laugh. "Ha, what am I asking, of course you're stupid."

Noel's shoulders tensed, her body shuddered involuntarily at the insult. "I'm not stupid...I'm not..."

The doppelganger seemed in better spirits than Noel. Her confident visage made no effort to hide that she was enjoying herself.

"To put it simply, I'm the _better_ Noel." she said, presumptuous and to the point. Her expression darkened. "Though I'm not capable of full control. Even if I wanted to step in, I can't. I'm...I'm stuck in the background like some insignificant spec of dust."

She crossed her arms. "You had all the time to do what petty things you wanted. It's my turn." She grinned darkly. "Besides, nobody will miss the old Noel anyway."

"No..." Noel glared, snapping her head up. "You...you don't know anything!" She had enough now. No more...she wanted no more of this. She didn't want to hear anymore!

"Oh but I do know, I know everything. I've been condemned to watch silently all this time, feeling nothing but anger...humiliation...at the idiotic choices you've made. You know...I'm going to stop trying to get my point across to an idiot. You've weakened by what I said so fast and I haven't even gotten to the _real_ stuff."

Noel could only stare, her whole body seemed fatigued, like she couldn't bring herself to retort. She looked down again, sullenly hoping to wake up from this, if there was even the smallest of chances that this was all a really long dream. No, this want a dream, this was a nightmare. Having all her negative thoughts swarm over her, overwhelm her, suffocating her. It was painful. This was more than a nightmare. This was hell...

"Honestly, I thought you'd put up more of a fight," said the pessimistic persona. "Guess I'll just take what's mine now..."

Noel shook her head, pushing herself to stand up again, even if her legs swayed. Her face was tense and obstinate. "No...! No! You're not real!"

"You're STILL denying?" spat Noelle, exasperated that Noel was even then still denying her existence. Her eyes flashed momentarily, infuriated. "Fine. Then feel this!"

Before Noel could process what happened, in a reflexive instant, she was wrenched up by the flimsy collar of her nightdress. A sharp gasp fled her lips when she caught a glimpse of the doppelgangers darkened eyes. They were different now, like iridescent dark orbs with a slitted pupils situated in place of the green eyes that was once there before.

"Let me down!" Noel demanded with a struggle, fear rising within her at the unnatural and large iris's that gazed upon her.

The crumpled material of her nightdress pressed against the back of her neck painfully and she flailed her arms, managing to slap her double's shoulder, but it was too weak to make a difference.

With a deafening snarl, the doppelganger thrust Noel back. Her body cut through the air and she landed with an inept thud in the distance. She pushed herself up by her arms, panting.

She glanced at the threatening eyes and the sickening smirk that twisted on the face that did not look similar to her anymore.

"This is my turf, the place I was trapped in all my life. This is going to be your new home."

The doppelganger materialized in front of Noel in a blur. Noel crawled backwards, backing away shakily as she felt around her for anything, anything she could use as a defense.

"Get...get away!" she cried desperately as fear mounted. "GET AWAY!" Noel thrashed her arm in front, but she missed when Noelle stopped in her approach and dematerialized.

"Wh-what?" Noel blinked again, slowly looking around. The place was empty. Back to the way it was when she opened her eyes at first. There was no one anymore. The girl in black was not there. The empty void still stretched on and she was seemingly alone, again.

As soon as her body eased and her heart stopped its unbearably loud throb in her ears, Noel braved herself to stand up. There was a pressurized silence hanging heavily around her.

She felt a chilly breath on her shoulder and froze in place. Swiveling around, Noel saw the darker her standing in the distance. She cracked a leer then drew near threateningly, raising her hands at her sides. Slowly, the nails on her long slender fingers seemed to grow, to sharpen.

Noel stepped back unsteadily, coercing herself to move, but her body couldn't, she was frozen in place. She looked at the person in front of her in fear.

This was not a lookalike any longer. The doppelganger was paler now, sickly pale, and her body seemed skinnier and elongated with an uncanny aura around her. This was not her lookalike any longer... She was a feral version of Noel, with a twisted grin and coal black eyes, flickering grey and emerald now and then.

"W-w-wait!" Noel shouted but the doppelganger had already materialized in front of her in a flash.

Unnerving, slender fingers wrapped around her neck in a tightening clutch.

Noel coughed, desperately gasping for breath. She couldn't breath. The grip around her throat tightened, and Noel could feel her throat constricting. She was choking. She lifted her hands and held onto the wrists of her assailant, trying to push her away, to loosen her firm grip. The hands only tightened, and the doppelganger leered.

Soon, Noel's struggling hands weakened and fell to her sides, yet she did not give up trying to wriggle loose, kicking her legs as much as she could. "P-p-please..." she managed, but her voice was a mere whisper.

"Just give it up already, you had your turn, no one will miss you, no one will give you a second thought. I bet, no will even remember you. You're weakening," persisted the dark-clad version.

Noel's sob caught in her throat and remained there. She couldn't breathe anymore. She couldn't. She tried. She couldn't. Her eyes shut accordingly and her lungs heaved a breathless strangle. One last press and Noel was plunged into a suffocating darkness.

xxx

Noel bolted upright with such a sharp intake of breath that her lungs pained. Her heart pounded in her chest with such intensity that it would almost break free. She sucked in greedy breaths of air, bewildered. Where was she? What happened?

Her eyes widened when the memory came back to her in a rush of thoughts and her hands flew to her neck. She was all right... She was still alive.

She sat up quickly, staggering forward as she craned her head up. All that met her eyes was dark shadowed canopies above, obscuring any light from entering. She was...in a forest?

"A forest? What...? No...no, how-?" Initially being in the wilderness bothered her, yet it was not as strong as the impulse she had to find help.

She began running through the woods, ducking under the bare branches that longed to claw at her bare arms. The foliage beneath her feet was dank and cold, she could feel it through her socks. Rocks and bushes were obstacles, slowing her in her run. Finally, she reached a clearing between the trees and pushed through the bushes with a struggle until she found herself standing on a wooden deck.

"What...?" Noel trailed, disorientated. She now stood on unsteady wooden bridge, softly bobbing in the light waves of a profound lake of black water. She looked up and only then realized that it was dark out and a globular mood shimmered, its pale light bouncing off the opaque water.

The bridge below her feet quivered with the waves, but then became shakier and shakier, moving side to side wildly as if large waves thrashed it, when in fact the waters were still. Noel went on her knees, keeping her hands glued to the wood to stay balanced as the little bridge swayed and she felt herself sliding to the side.

The bridge tipped wildly upwards and bounced her off the sides throwing her in a tumble until she dipped into the inviting waters which washed over her as she went under.

She forced her body, heavy in the force of the water, to go upwards and back to the surface which seemed to get further and further away as she drifted down, down, down. In her peripheral vision, Noel saw a figure moving by swiftly.

Distressed, she compelled her legs to wade the water faster, feeling her lungs blazing with the anticipation to breathe. A pale hand appeared through the shade of dark water below, reaching out for her legs and Noel kicked frantically. A thin arm shot up and clutched her ankles, pulling her down as she refuted and fought to swim upwards.

Finally, Noel couldn't hold back any longer and her mouth opened in a desperate gasp. Rushing bubbles obscured her vision as the water flowed into her but she pressed her hands to her mouth, gurgling, trying to stop the water from sweeping in while she tried to get out of the grasp.

Slowly, Noel felt herself relent, her body suspending in the thick waters and her head tilting back as she drifted. Soft light sifted down from the waning full moon that seemed to drift like a mirage on the hazy surface above. Gleaming black eyes below was the last she saw before the water filled her.

xxx

Noel sprang out of bed, bathed in sweat, gasping for breath. She looked around her wildly and saw that she was in her apartment room. Her uniform was pressed and folded, hanging over the wardrobe. The soft beams of moonlight shone though the thin laced curtains.

She sat silently, eyes slowly moving across the room. "It...It really was a dream."

Everything was quiet until a whisper came. "No it wasn't."

Gasping, Noel looked up and saw the lookalike with her arms and legs sprawled upside down on the ceiling. Her head tilted down with a menacing glare and a sharp smile. With a deafening screech, her body fell, diving down to the frightened young woman.

xxx

Noel bolted straight up, gasping. Beads of perspiration dripped down her forehead. Her heart pounded rapidly against her chest and she rested her hands over it in hopes to ease it. She recognized she was in her room. Sitting under the thin white sheets of the bed she glanced around nervously.

Her shoulders heaved with each erratic breath she took. Unhurriedly, she braced herself to look up, but there was no one. The ceiling was grayish white in the dark. Normal.

She dipped her head and stared at her shaking hands. It was really all over. It was a dream. A really, really, long, seemingly never-ending dream. But it was finally all over.

Noel noticed her stuffed panda doll lying on the floor. She assumed must have been moving around too much in her sleep which made it fall off the bed. She peered over the edge of her bed on her knees, leaning one hand and reaching the other down to grasp the arm of the panda doll which stuck out. She felt around in the dark till her hands felt something cool and soft to the touch. Baffled, Noel pulled it out but the weight seemed heavy. She pulled harder and a chill went down her when she felt...a finger. From underneath the bed, a body slid out.

Noel shrieked and backed away with her feet tangling in the covers of her bad. The body still lay there, unmoving, and resembling herself. It was...her body? That...that couldn't be!

The shoulders stirred and Noel stared, wide-eyed when the fingers of the pale hand flexed. Without warning, the limp body levitated and apprehension coursed through Noel when it swooped forward like a gust and clasped her throat.

xxx

Noel cried out, sitting up in bed with a hysterical and panicked face. She was clammy and sweaty and her blonde hair was tousled. Her blankets were wrapped around her legs like a cocoon, tangled. She kicked the blankets off and frantically whipped her head around, eyes wide.

It was the same image of her apartment room.

She squirmed, pinching her arm tentatively. She felt it. She pinched her arm again and again, blinking. She was awake. Maybe this wasn't a dream. No, she wasn't thinking clearly...

She sat still on her bed for a long while, just sitting erect and listening to her own faint breath. She couldn't brave going back to sleep, and strained herself to stay awake. She sat like that for a while, waiting for something to happen. But there was no sound.

Fatigue slowly reared but she fought it back. Deciding to wash her face, she carefully made for the bathroom. The bathroom door as half open and she put her hand through, feeling on the wall for the small switch. When she flipped it up the bright light allowed her to see that everything was still in place.

Slowly, she entered and opened the tap. Clear water gushed out steadily. She held her hands under the tap, trying not to think about the nightmares, about the encounter.

A part of her convinced her it was real, the logical part was unsure. It was confusing, perplexing. Everything her shadowed self said played in a loop in her mind. Did people really hate her? Did they only put up a friendly face as a pretence because they pitied her? She was weak... she knew it. She always knew that, but she thought her friends accepted her regardless. She thought they cared.

She shook her head, scolding herself for giving the thoughts leverage. Squeezing her eyes tight, she pressed back the tears. She was not a cry baby...

Inhaling gradually, she splashed the cool water over her face, feeling refreshed and fully awakened.

She felt glad that she was awake; the chain of nightmares had finally ended. She was convinced now that she was in reality, back in her apartment. It was real this time.

But...the nightmares of suffocating and drowning...they felt real too. Too realistic.

Noel frowned, sighing shakily. Glancing up momentarily, her eyes met the mirror above the basin. Her own scream strangled in her throat.

Staring, her eyes flickered in disbelief and a clenching fear. She could feel her heart pumping rapidly, too rapidly. She could hear its erratic beat, apart from the slow drone of gushing from the running water.

What she saw in the mirror was her own reflection, with a wide sinister grin stretching across her mouth. With large iris's growing an opaque black, the reflection winked.

Frozen in place, Noel stared, horrified, her body shaking uncontrollably.

xxx

_Ringgg. Rrrinnng._

Noel flinched.

_Ringgg. Rrrinnng._

She jerked upright, and held the blankets closely to her chest. What happened? Where was she? Was she alright? The white headboard of her bed greeted her when her blurry visions settled and she looked around the dimly lit room of her apartment.

_Ringgg. Rrrinnng._

She recognized the shrill vibration of the alarm clock and groped for it on the side-desk. When she got it in hand, she turned it off and the room fell into silence.

Faint light filtered through the window. It was daybreak. Noel rested back against the headboard and looked about her room with tension, expecting something dreadful to happen again. Expecting something to jump out at her.

Her phone jingled with a familiar tone on the other side of the room where it was placed on the chair next to the wardrobe. She threw her legs out of bed cautiously, going towards the phone. After clicking the answering button, a drone of static frizzled on the other side of the line. Slowly, with quivering hands, she brought the phone to her ear.

"H-hello...?"

There was no answer. She gulped hard and breathed in. "Hello...? First lieutenant, N-Noel Vermilion speaking."

"_What's up, Noel? You sound tense."_

The lively, concerned voice was familiar. Very familiar. That voice belonged to Makoto and Noel felt like she would almost cry out of happiness upon hearing her dear friend's voice.

"M-makoto, is this for real? Are you r-really speaking to me?" she sniveled, dabbing the edge of her eyes. She tried to stop sniffling in the sobs which she felt would soon overwhelm her.

"_Huh? What are you talking about Noel? Of course I'm real. What kind of question is that?"_

Noel smiled weakly, her legs buckled below her and she sank to the ground with a thud, feeling nothing but relief throughout the whole of her.

"_Noel? You still there?"_

"I'm here, Makoto, I'm here... I just...had the weirdest dream."

"_Oh really? You can tell me all about it 'cause I'm waiting in the lobby downstairs. I know it's still really early, but Tsubaki and I just arrived."_

Noel looked at the window again. The sun was not even up yet, though she said nothing, only blinked when the words of her friend settled it. They contradicted everything the doppelganger had said in the nightmare. "You two came, all this way for me?" she finally managed, almost on the verge of tears.

"_Err, we did agree to meet before Halloween, remember? To organize the Scare-Fest for the graduates of the Academy,"_ mentioned Makoto, casually, before she asked, "_...Are you half asleep or something?"_

Noel pursed her lips, remembering now. It had been three months since she left the Academy, and this week, the week before Halloween, was her off week. The Major had his own plans of which she knew nothing of as usual, but their whole brigade was given leave for the week.

During her daze of thoughts, the room door swung open with a thump, making her jump, and Makoto scampered in with a scowling Tsubaki at her heels.

"Makoto! There's a thing called knocking," the red-haired reprimanded as she stepped into the room. She raised her gaze and saw Noel sitting on the floor, staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed in a stunned gape.

"Tsubaki!" The blonde flew up from the floor in an instant and dashed to her red-haired friend, squeezing her in a tight embrace. Tsubaki flustered and brought her hand up to pat her friend's back awkwardly. "Um. Good Morning to you too, Noel."

Noel couldn't stop the tears from flowing; she had been keeping them in all this time. Pushing herself away from Tsubaki, she flung herself onto Makoto, holding onto the surprised beastkin like a lifeline. "Geez, Noel. We didn't think you'd miss us this much," Makoto remarked with raised brows, but she pressed the weeping blonde in a warm hug all the same.

Eventually Noel eased down, controlling her emotions at last. They decided to go downstairs where she could tell them what got her so upset and carried on so long without her when she told them she would come down right after getting dressed.

After slipping in uniform and putting on her shoes, Noel came to a stand in the middle of her room, her mind steadily adjusting to reality. She stared thoughtfully, troubled, at a patch of wood on the floorboards.

"Was...all that really one long nightmare?" she wondered. She was sure she didn't want to know the answer to that either way. She was alive and well, and she had plans to arrange. The mere thought of the occurrence disturbed her, greatly, but she couldn't let it slow her down.

She grabbed a hairbrush, pulling it through her hair absentmindedly. Right there, she convinced herself that the words, that the images, that the encounter was a realistic series of nightmares due to anxiety, but even so...she was certain she would never forget this experience. It would always haunt her...

Though despite that, Noel knew that she had to go on with her life.

The young blonde lieutenant left the room with an unsettled feeling, unaware of the shadowed figure in the corner of the room -where the soft morning light would not reach- watching after her intently, menacingly, with gleaming dark eyes.

* * *

A/N: I guess this was more like a chiller than a horror right? I don't really expect people to like this but...I think I did okay.

To clear up on a few things: The doppelganger has to eliminate the original before taking over. Because Noel's personality is self-doubting at times, Noelle "fed" on this to finally make an appearance, she grows stronger that way. The series of nightmares could have been happening in another realm/plane/dimension even though Noel was physically still in the room. And even though Noel could be hurt physically, the reason why she didn't die was probably because...Fate didn't want her to be replaced so the events of the game can take place? Yes, I'm rambling stuff... I'll leave it up to you guys to think about.

As always, feedback for improvement and constructive criticism would be appreciated!


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